1 And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offer it of the herd; whether it be a male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the Lord.

In the last chapter we learned about the Meat Offering, which was a voluntary offering of celebration, something that an Israelite would bring when feeling abundant in the blessings of the Lord. Today we start hearing about the Peace Offering, which was also a voluntary and celebratory offering, but this one meant to commemorate a different category of gratitude and blessing.

The Old Testament record does not spell out what the nature of the Peace Offering’s celebration was, but scholars and tradition believe that it had to do with reconciliation and unity. As we will learn in Leviticus 7, one unique aspect of the Peace Offering was that the sacrificed animal would be consumed as a meal shared between God, the priests, and the Israelite making the offering. This is something that we haven’t come across in any of the other offerings. It is this aspect of the offering that sees God, priest, and offeror breaking bread together that has led to the interpretation that it was meant to commemorate a moment of unity, or oneness.

Perhaps the offeror would make this offering when he felt cleaned from his old sins, or healed from a disease, or was reunited with an estranged family member, or was delivered from a burden, or received a long-sought-for answer to prayer. Any moment that made him feel particularly reunited with the good in the universe. Thus, it was a celebration, but one with deeper emotional weight than the merrymaking of a Meat Offering.

Sacrifice	Eligible oblation	Steps	Explanation
Peace Offering			Gratitude for reconciliation

Full table.